Bernard Schoenburg: LaHood won't seek RNC seat

U.S. Rep. RAY LaHOOD, R-Peoria, has taken himself out of the running for Republican National Committeeman from Illinois in favor of a trip to Lebanon.

Bernard Schoenburg

U.S. Rep. RAY LaHOOD, R-Peoria, has taken himself out of the running for Republican National Committeeman from Illinois in favor of a trip to Lebanon.

LaHood, who is of Lebanese descent, said he didn’t want to miss the opportunity to go on a congressional trip to watch the Lebanese parliament elect Gen. MICHEL SULEIMAN, who has been commander of that country’s armed forces, as president, followed by Suleiman’s swearing in. Both take place this weekend.

“I’ve been in Congress 14 years, and this will be my 13th trip to Lebanon,” LaHood said Friday, as he prepared to leave with other members of Congress that evening. “I think it’s important to send a signal – not only from Congress, but from our government – that we’re vitally interested in Lebanon.”

LaHood, 62, is not seeking another term in Congress, but had said he planned to seek election to the RNC from Illinois while at the GOP state convention in Decatur June 6 and 7. However, LaHood now says that his trip, which will take about 10 days and could include talks in Egypt with that country’s leader, would leave him without enough time to lobby the 19 members of the nominating committee for the two Illinois spots coming open on the RNC.

Illinois has three members on the national committee. One is state party Chairman ANDY McKENNA, whose term runs through 2010. However, neither of the others, BOB KJELLANDER of Springfield and MARY JO ARNDT of Lombard, is seeking re-election when their terms run out at the end of the Republican National Convention in September.

Among candidates to replace Kjellander are PAT BRADY of St. Charles and former state Sen. STEVE RAUSCHENBERGER, R-Elgin. Among candidates to replace Arndt are DEMETRA DeMONTE of Pekin, the Tazewell County GOP chairwoman and a member of the Republican State Central Committee; CAROL SMITH DONOVAN of Chicago, another member of the central committee; and KATHY SALVI of Wauconda, who ran for Congress in 2006 and is the wife of former state Rep. AL SALVI.

Brady is a former state and federal prosecutor now working for Deloitte LLP in Chicago. He has the backing of state Rep. JIM DURKIN, co-chair of the JOHN McCAIN presidential campaign in Illinois.

Brady, a Bloomington native, also is the cousin of state Rep. DAN BRADY, R-Bloomington. Brady and Durkin were both assistant state’s attorneys in Cook County 10 years ago, when they both got involved in working for a McCain presidency. Brady’s wife, JULIE, is deputy co-chair of the McCain campaign in Illinois, and Brady is on McCain’s national finance committee.

Brady thinks a national committeeman’s primary role is to raise money, and “in the state of Illinois, you raise money downtown, in Chicago.” He said he has business connections that he thinks “uniquely qualifies me to be able to raise funds.”

Rauschenberger is now a lobbyist, and Brady said he has no interest in lobbying. Brady also notes that he worked as a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., and now advises companies on how to avoid corruption.

“I’ve been an anti-corruption guy my entire career,” Brady said. “Given the recent history in the party, I think that it sends a good message for somebody who is, first of all, in it to help the party, (and) secondly (who) has … an impeccable reputation and understanding of what ethical boundaries are.”

Rauschenberger, 51, sought to become national committeeman four years ago, but got just one vote – from his own congressional district – out of a 19-member nominating committee. Rauschenberger says would have had more support, except that Kjellander “pulled a rabbit out of the hat” and got his long-time friend KARL ROVE, then President GEORGE BUSH Bush’s top political adviser, to speak at that gathering.

This year, Rauschenberger is touting his understanding of the state and legislature as a 15-year state senator and two-time statewide primary candidate.

“I do think I represent the kind of generational change that the Republican Party in Illinois needs,” Rauschenberger said.

Rauschenberger also has a consulting practice that takes him to Washington, D.C., meaning it would not be a problem for him to attend RNC meetings there. An association representing the cellular telephone industry is his biggest client.

He is also on the state lobbyist list, and -- as has been pointed out in www.thecapitolfaxblog.com -- does a bit of his work with Advanced Practical Solutions, the lobbying firm of MILAN PETROVIC, a top fund-raiser for GOV. ROD BLAGOJEVICH.

Rauschenberger said he is so listed because he gives advice and answers questions for a couple of clients including Elgin Community College. He doesn’t think it taints his GOP credentials. Petrovic has been identified in testimony at the TONY REZKO trial as being the top “bundler” of campaign funds for Blagojevich, with more than $1.9 million raised.

“Anybody that’s going to do any kind of effective consulting in Springfield today has got to have an association with some of the Democratic firms,” Rauschenberger said. “This is not the kind of administration where it’s the power of ideas that persuade. I mean, if you’re not working with a Democratic firm … it’s pretty tough.”

Rauschenberger is being backed by ChampionNews.net, an arm of the Family Taxpayers Network, a conservative group led by JACK ROESER. Roeser and Champion News have been critical over the years of Kjellander, who has made big money as a consultant for companies doing business with the state, even during Blagojevich’s Democratic administration.

Kjellander said last week that when he was challenged in 2004 by Rauschenberger, “the main issue he used was that I was a lobbyist.”

“I find it ironic that the former senator and his friends at the Family Taxpayers Network who’ve condemned me for five years for being a lobbyist now think that the future of the party should be in the hands of a lobbyist.”

Roeser said Rauschenberger, as a senator, conducted himself in a way that did not yield allegations against him. And Roeser said Rauschenberger also hasn’t had the kind of windfalls that Kjellander has. He cited the $809,000 fee Kjellander received as a consultant to Bear Stearns, which got a key underwriting role for a $10 billion bond issue done by the Blagojevich administration in 2003 and a multimillion-dollar payout Kjellander got for helping Carlyle Group receive Teachers’ Retirement System money to invest.

Kjellander says all his dealings were legal and aboveboard. But that’s not how Roeser sees it.

“He’s part of the bipartisan culture of sleaze,” Roeser said.

Meanwhile, DeMonte, 58, said she hopes to be national chairwoman to carry Tazewell’s GOP success to the rest of Illinois.

‘”I have been an effective county chairman in Tazewell,” she said. “We energize down here. We elect Republicans down here. We raise money down here.”

In 2006 – a bad year for the GOP nationally – GOP county incumbents were re-elected in Tazewell County, and the party won two more seats on the county board and a j

Delegates added

Several well-known officials and central Illinois residents were added to the list of delegates to the Democratic National Convention earlier this month, when elected delegates met in Springfield to name at-large, party leader/elected official delegates, and unpledged add-on delegates.

Yes, the Democrats have an elaborate system, which calls for proportional representation of many minority groups and also splits delegates between competing candidates.

Of the 56 delegates who were added, 18 are for U.S. Sen. HILLARY CLINTON, D-N.Y., and 38 are for U.S. Sen. BARACK OBAMA, D-Ill.

Among the new Obama delegates are Attorney General LISA MADIGAN, state Treasurer ALEXI GIANNOULIAS, state Comptroller DAN HYNES, Lt. Gov. PAT QUINN, Secretary of State JESSE WHITE, and state AFL-CIO President MICHAEL CARRIGAN of Decatur; CINDY HOULIHAN, wife of U.S. Sen. DICK DURBIN’s downstate director BILL HOULIHAN; JAYNE MAZZOTTI, wife of Christian County Democratic Chairman JACK MAZZOTTI; former state Rep. ROBIN KELLY of Matteson, now chief of staff to Giannoulias; and TAMMY DUCKWORTH, director of the the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.

Among new Clinton delegates are state Rep. JACK FRANKS, D-Woodstock; former state Sen. ALICE PALMER, D-Chicago, who once held the Illinois legislative seat that was taken over by Obama; and SHIRLEY McCOMBS of Petersburg, longtime secretary of the Democratic State Central Committee.

At-large alternates for Obama include state Rep. JAY HOFFMAN of Collinsville and state Sens. DON HARMON of Oak Park and JACKIE COLLINS of Chicago.

Among at-large alternates for Clinton is ROCCO CLAPS, director of the Illinois Department of Human Rights.

Bernard Schoenburg is political columnist for The State Journal-Register. He can be reached at (217) 788-1540 or bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com.